Out of those 23 teams only five managed a podium in 2011 (Ford, Stobart, Citroen, Petter Solberg and Mini), and out of those Petter twice and Mini once.

Outside the manufacturer teams it's rare to have competitional entries (unless we're talking about Loeb in 2006 or something). Østberg was close in 2017, but even he seemed to struggle with issues that the M-Sport cars never had, forcing him to retire even from decent positions.

I think the four-team competition from 2017 to 2019 has been the best the WRC has ever seen, even though it has been practically without privateers. And the title fight this year looks interesting, let's see how long it continues.

Sadly the WRC2 series hasn't really produced many interesting battles for seconds, it's been more about who finishes the rally without issues and some rallies have had a ridiculously low entry list.

In any case, if the cost-cutting brings us more factory teams, I'm all for it.